Date balls with nuts, fruits and chocolate

This is something that I have been wanting to make and share for a few months now. These date balls have everything that I love:

Chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate?

Roasted Nuts. Nuts about Nuts.

And

Dried fruits. My favorite- Cranberries. Sweet and tart. Perfect balance with the sweet dates.

The best thing about this is that this can be made differently every time.

You may use : White chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate.

Any combination of nuts or one kind only.

Any dried fruits- craisins, raisins, prunes.

Also, you may add seeds such as sunflower seeds or chia seeds

And, you may coat them with:

Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, almond meal, roasted coconut flakes.

These are the many reasons I love these date balls.

Oh, another thing, I eat these with my morning breakfast, after lunch as something sweet, as afternoon snacks and anytime in between.

 

So, for the no-recipe date balls (about 18 1inch balls), you need:

1 cup of pitted dates (tightly packed, about 16-18 dates)

¼ cup honey or maple syrup or agave syrup

⅓ cup roasted pistachios

⅓ cup roasted walnuts

⅓ cup craisins

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

pinch of salt

For coating, I used powdered sugar, an equal mix of powdered sugar and cocoa powder, roasted coconut flakes.

This is how I did it:

Add the dates, honey or maple syrup, salt in the food processor and make a chunky paste of the dates. Add all the other ingredients and pulse just a few times to incorporate the nuts, the fruits and the chocolate chunks evenly in the date paste. This will be very sticky. Put this mixture in the refrigerator for a 2-3 hours. Put a little bit of oil in your palms before you role the mixture into balls. The oil will prevent it from sticking to your hands and will also help in the rolling process. Roll the date balls in your choice of coating and enjoy.